THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS

call Just-In-Time. Correlations like: if products are not neededdownstream—as indicated by the lack of Kanban cards—it is betterfor the company that the workers stay idle or, cut the batchsizes of parts even if the cost of setup skyrockets. I received thebest proof that the question WHY was not asked at all from Dr.Ohno himself. He told me in our meeting several years ago inChicago, "My system does not make sense at all, but by God it'sworking." The best sign of the correlation stage—the only proof isin the pudding.Have we evolved already into theCommon sense isthe highest praise fora logical derivation,for a very clearexplanation.third stage, the effect-cause-effectstage? My answer is, definitely yes.Most of The Goal readers claimthat this book contains justcommon sense. Common sense isthe highest praise for a logical derivation,for a very clear explanation.But explanations and logicalderivations are the terminology of the effect-cause-and-effect stage.In The Goal only one assumption is postulated—the assumptionthat we can measure the goal of an organization by Throughput,Inventory and Operating Expenses. Everything else is derivedlogically from that assumption. The Theory of Constraints Journalis intended to expand this cause-and-effect logic to cover otheraspects of an organization— from marketing, to design, toinvestment, to distribution, and so on. This is the main task of thefirst article in every issue. The task of the second article in eachissue is quite different. The purpose of this article is certainly notto give real life testimonials that the Theory works. Who would behelped by such testimonials? The people that have already beenpersuaded by The Goal do not need them, they have their ownreal-life proof. Those who were not moved by the common senselogic in The Goal will certainly find it easy to demonstrate thattheir situations are different and that these ideas will not work intheir environment. No, the purpose of the "Visit" articles is quitedifferent. What is not well appreciated is that the effect-cause-andeffectstage brings with it some significant ramifications that wehave to adjust to. It involves a different approach to untieing asubject. It also gives us the ability to change the system in whichwe operate, but in doing so it29